Month: January 2009

It is really hard to blog when the kids are home.

It’s not that they are loud or anything (in fact, they’re so quiet that I forget they’re here a lot of times) or constantly tapping me on the shoulder to ask me questions (I miss those days), it’s me. I have to be completely isolated in order to write – okay fine, to think.

When the kids are home, I’m in “mom” mode. My instincts go into overdrive and every little squeak of their chairs or the tap of their keyboards distract me. It’s especially hard to concentrate when they have their headsets on (like now) and I can hear their conversations with their friends – they sound so grown up and I’m a little jealous that they’ve created worlds where I’m not welcome.

So if this post doesn’t make sense, you’ll know why. Because my focus is being constantly punctured by “kid presence.”

It snowed last night.

(Looking into our backyard)

In fact, it snowed quite a bit.

(See the snow level under our camper?)

And it was a gorgeous sight.

I know this, because I was out in it.

The husband came home early last night so he could drive me around. I had to go to Blockbusters in order to return some movies, Walgreens (for some Charcocaps – remember I talked about those yesterday?) and Harter House to pick up some arm roast for our BBQ sandwiches we plan on having Thursday night for dinner. (Yes, I’m one of those anal people who plan their menus ahead of time). He had to drive me because I was too much of a wuss to get out on my own.

Well, that was part of the reason, the other part was because I wasn’t sure if my Vibe, which sits pretty low to the ground, wouldn’t get stuck. And considering the husband drives an F150 truck and he loves to drive in this stuff anyhow, I figured I’d play the helpless female card and sweet talk him into playing my knight in shining armor.

There wasn’t much resistance on his end. ::wink::

So we’re out. And the streets are dead because they’re a mixture of slushy and slick and no one wants to be out in this mess. We pull into Walgreen’s when the snow starts. Big, fat, beautiful flakes began to gently descend from the heavens and it’s absolutely breath-taking. It’s the kind of snow that instantly covers your hair and shoulders the moment you step outside; the kind of flakes that drop softly, end-over-end until they land ever so gently on the ground – the crystals intact and shimmering in the soft glow of the street lights.

I felt like I was stuck in a snow globe. The world around us had been forced to slow down, even stop in some places. It was a magical moment.

We hurried home and opened the windows to show the boys. They were mesmerized and quickly stepped into their slippers to go outside and stand in the falling flakes. It was such a peaceful, happy, quiet moment because there was enough snow by this time to muffle the world around us. We felt isolated, yet together. It was a special family moment.

It’s now 10:57 a.m. and the sun is trying really hard to break through the clouds. Temperatures are expected to reach above freezing tomorrow and climb all the way to the 40’s by this weekend.

Our winter wonderland will soon disappear.

The husband is on his way home to pick us up for lunch. I have no idea where we will go, but it will be nice, regardless, because we’ll be together.

Our current weather situation is:

We’re in Springfield Missouri, in case you didn’t know that.

And as you can see, we’re buried under that big pink blob. And it looks bad.

Only, it’s really not that bad. In this case, it looks worse than it really is. We did get some sleet last night, about 1/2 inch, and school was canceled today as a result of slick roads, but the accumulation is more of a crunchy consistency at this point, sort of like walking on pebbles, than anything else.

But it’s a solid mass of pebbles. I just tried to scoop some up to take a picture of it in the palm of my hand, but I couldn’t do it. In fact, the only thing I could do was scratch the surface – it’s solid and it’s slick. Since we’re not supposed to get above freezing today, I’m predicting school will be canceled tomorrow as well.

This is what my world looks like right now, right this minute as seen from my back door:

When I was standing outside to take this picture, I could hear the dreaded soft tinkling of ice falling – it’s sleeting right now. There’s nothing quite like that tinkle sound as the ice falls through the tree branches and embeds itself into the earth. It’s a flat pinging sound and Missourians are all too familiar with that sound. It’s a hard, solid sleeting though as opposed to a more wet consistency and it’s not really sticking to the trees but falling more like, well, pebbles.

This is typical winter weather for us. We don’t get snow very often, but we do get ice. Which is much worse because it’s hazardous to drive on, and heavy enough to snap tree limbs and cut power lines. We’ve now had an ice storm for the past three years – 2007 was the worst (it shut our city down for two solid weeks), last year we had one in February that lasted about a week, and now this year. It looks like it might not stick around very long though because we’re supposed to start warming back up on Thursday.

I Twittered about trying to locate our birth certificates yesterday. I went up to the bank to check our safety deposit box and I found all of the guys’ certificates, but mine wasn’t in there. I seem to have a problem with keeping track of my birth certificate, for some reason. I’ve already requested two copies.

However, the husband suggested I check one place at home and I did find it, so now our next step is to take our paperwork up to the post office and start the ball rolling on our passports.

Of course, that will have to wait until after this ice melts. And a day the boys get out of school early because the office is only accepting applications until 4:15 and that doesn’t give us a lot of time after school to drive across town.

I’m keeping a record of everything I eat. Not for dietary purposes but because my digestive problem has gotten out of control. Apparently, I’m eating gassy foods, which is not helping my problem.

I’m keeping this record for two reasons: 1. to pinpoint exactly what types of foods are giving me problems and 2. IF it gets to the point where I have to go to the doctor, it will expedite the process because they will ask me to keep a record anyway.

I’m also going to try Chamomile tea, something called Charcocaps (I love their little bloated cartoon characters, that’s me, exactly) and do a better job of taking Lactaid with my dairy intake.

I know some of you are shaking your heads and saying, GO TO A DOCTOR ALREADY, but I just can’t do that until I’ve exhausted all of my possibilities.

One – because I’m stubborn like that.

Two – because I’m honestly not sure if a doctor is what I need at this point (I’m getting older, my body is changing *ahem* and I just need to learn to roll with it).

Three – because I don’t want to spend an insane amount of money for them to tell me to do what I’m trying now

Four – because this way I can say I’ve already TRIED all of these options before they tell me to, therefore speeding up the process

Five – I’m not the sort of person who turns to a doctor before exhausting all of my personal options first.

I promise, if I feel like I’ve exhausted all of my possibilities, THEN I will go to a doctor. Until then … I’m gritting my teeth, handling the discomfort and trudging forward.

Speaking of health issues, my husband sent me a link to this article yesterday:

Obesity ‘Virus’ Spreads Like Common Cold, Scientists Say

Obesity can be “caught” as easily as a common cold from other people’s coughs, sneezes and dirty hands, scientists said Monday.

The condition has been linked to a highly-infectious virus which causes sniffles and sore throats.

Nikhil Dhurandhar, an associate professor at The Pennington Biomedical Research Center, in Baton Rouge, La., said the virus, known as AD-36, infects the lungs then whisks around the body, forcing fat cells to multiply and also causing sore throats.

“When this virus goes to fat tissue it replicates, making more copies of itself and in the process increases the number of new fat cells, which may explain why the fat tissue expands and why people get fat when they are infected with this virus,” Dhurandhar said.

You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me.

I think this is just an excuse to classify obesity as a disease so people can once again not take responsibility for their personal choices.

This just STEAMS my broccoli.

Which is ANOTHER food I can’t eat because it gives me problems, thank you very much.

Yes, I’m cranky because I’m hungry and gassy. Humpf.